Muscle Up Progression: 6 Steps to Mastering the Movement

Unless you are already trained gymnastbarbell pull-ups are one of the most challenging body weight movements you can try. Besides requiring a significant core i upper body strengthmuscles require excellent mobility, body awarenesscoordination and timing.

If you’re determined to add muscle building to your gym repertoire, know that there’s a right way and a wrong way to develop this skill.

• Wrong way: Repeatedly swinging and slamming your body against the bar until you become tired, frustrated and possibly injured.
• The right way: Muscle progression upwards.

A muscle-up progression is a series of increasingly difficult movements that gradually develop your muscle-building technique while building your strength. Each progression stage includes benchmarks that indicate your readiness to move on to the next exercise within the progression.

The final stage is, of course, muscle strengthening, which is certainly done with confidence and impeccable form.

Muscle progression in 6 steps

dr. John Gallucci, Jr., MS, ATC, PT, DPT, Chief Executive Officer JAG physical therapyexplains that lifting a muscle is actually a series of smaller movements linked together:

1. Statue of momentum
2. Knee lift
3. Leg lift
4. Chest to bar withdrawal
5. Lowering the triceps

To build muscle, you must be comfortable repeating each of these movements. This is where the muscles progress upwards.

Developed with the help of Gallucci and Jeff Waters, a registered American boxing trainer and owner Performance by Wattersthe next muscle progression up starts at the beginner level. Depending on your gymnastics experience and current strength level, you may be able to skip ahead.

Step 1: Hanging Knee/Leg Raise

• Grip the pull-up bar with an overhand grip that is slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Hang with your arms outstretched (a position known as the deadlift) and your legs extended and together.
• Bend your knees 90 degrees and raise them to the level of your hips. Hold for one second, then return to the starting position.
• Once you are able to perform three sets of 10 repetitions, perform the same movement keeping your legs straight so that your body forms an L shape. Once you are able to perform three sets of 10 repetitions of straight leg raises, move on to the next step.

Advice: “Make sure you’re not swinging and using your momentum to lift your legs, and all the work is coming from the hip flexors and core,” says Gallucci.

Step 2: Assisted chest pull on the bar

• Wrap one end of a large resistance band around the pull-up bar. Grasp the bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder width and place one foot on the other end of the resistance band.
• Hang outstretched arms with straight legs and core and glutes involved.
• Without swinging or jerking (using momentum to propel you upward), engage your lats and squeeze your shoulder blades as you pull your chest toward the bar.
• Pause, then lower back to a dead position.

Advice: “Start with a thicker band,” says Watters. “If you can do 10 full withdrawalsuse a thinner strip. Over time, continue working until you can do 10 strict pull-ups with the thinnest band. Then move on.”

Step 3: Strict pull from chest to bar

• Grip the pull-up bar with an overhand grip that is slightly above shoulder width.
• Hang with arms outstretched with arms straight and ankles crossed behind you.
• Without swinging or kipping, engage your core, glutes and lats as you bring your shoulder blades together and pull your chest to the bar.
• Pause, then lower back to a dead position.
• When you can do three sets of 10 reps, move on. But keep practicing chest pulls as you work on new skills.

Advice: “At this stage it is also important to work on ‘push‘ feature you use in building muscle,” says Watters.

It suggests inclusion push-ups into your training plan, including push-ups, where you drop all the way to the ground and temporarily raise your arms before pushing back into the plank to eliminate any momentum from the movement.

“Start from a halfway position on the floor, then lower yourself back down to the ground. This is the hardest part of pushing, that’s why we emphasize it,” he says.

Step 4: Lowering the triceps

• Grab the handles of the immersion station and jump or step into the starting position: feet off the floor, arms straight and ankles crossed. (To make the movement easier, you can put a large resistance band over the handles and put your knees on it.)
• Keeping your forearms vertical and your elbows tucked (not spread), allow your torso to lean forward as you lower your body until your elbows form an approximately 90-degree angle.
• Reverse the movement, return to the starting position. When you can do three sets of 10 reps, move on.

Step 5: Kip swing

• Grip the pull-up bar with an overhand grip that is slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Hang outstretched arms with straight arms and straight and joined legs.
• Get into a hollow body position: engage your core and lats to arch (round) your spine and tilt your pelvis back (tuck in your tailbone).
• Use your shoulders to thrust your chest forward and arch your spine, allowing your legs to swing behind you.
• Use your shoulders, lats, and core to return to the hollow body position and begin to pull back the same way you do for chest to bar pulls.
• Once you are able to complete three sets of 10 reps of kip swings that bring your chest to bar level, progress to full muscle-ups.

Advice: Be sure to use your shoulders, not your hips, to create momentum.

Step 6: Increasing muscle mass

• Grip the pull-up bar with an overhand grip that is slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Hang with straight arms and engaged core and glutes.
• Start a Kip Swing: Starting in a hollow body position, use your shoulders to thrust your chest forward and arch your spine. Then use your shoulders, petals and torso to return to hollow body position. (Once you’re behind the bar, lean back and pull the bar down to lift yourself as high as you can.)
• Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull your hips toward the bar. After your stomach makes contact with the bar, rotate your wrists forward, lean forward and straighten your elbows so your torso is over the bar.
• Hold, then lower into a dead hanging position.